06-08-2017
Sunday – Day off
As Nathan, an American guy, came to visit, we went for some sightseeing. Yesterday we went to the Cosplay festival and as our previous days off consisted of Osu Kannon and German Beer Festival, this was the first time we had the chance to see the Nagoya Castle.
It wasn’t as impressive as I expected, though, so after a brief visit we decided to proceed to the Toyota Commemorative Museum. This was definitely fun, as most of the machines were still working.
07-08-2017
Today we had another visiting sensei. This time, apart from basics, we have practiced some more shiai-useful stuff, such as launching forward, and generally moving quickly and precisely. Nathan decided to join us for the lesson and he was individually coached by Terada sensei.
Although the new feet and hands tricks (creating an illusion of standing still while moving the body) are undoubtedly useful and worth remembering, my basic kamae and thrust is still too far from being good to implement all the advices. Yet, as he proved himself to be a great teacher and motodachi, I really hope he’ll be back soon.
08-08-2017
Back to basics – today with a focus on being a good motodachi, especially on receiving the thrust and moving to the correct distance afterwards. As a small person (or hobbit), I don’t have many problems with the small step that should be taken upon the reception of the thrust. I’m just not heavy enough to be able to absorb it without even moving a foot. We also did some resistance training with rubber band that can be either put around your hips or on the mokuju.
That was great and I hope we will repeat that often. We finished the training with lots of kata and I got completely lost, as usual, with harai. Kata looks generally simple, yet it is deceiving, as everything should be performed in a calm and focused manner, with mokuju not moving an inch in any way it is not supposed to.
*This is part of an ongoing series of posts by Jukendo World translator and guest author, Klara, who has only recently started jukendo and is undertaking a 3 month visit to Japan to further her training with her partner, Lukasz.*
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